Eiretrains

G602 had a bit of black/orange tarpaulin thrown over it when stored in Inchicore during the 1970s, and at a quick glance a photo may give the impression of black/tan colour. Incidentally one of the Silverfox models now and again shows what the livery may have looked like on the G601s.

In addition to Kevin Murray, the late Jim O'Dea recorded the G611 Class upon delivery at Inchicore in 1962, and shows how some effort had been made in accessioning some, but not all, the fleet into the CIÉ series (G611, G612 as well as G613 featuring their fleet numbers): http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305876 It is unclear whether the numbers were temporary, and in any case, the livery was changed completely, it is interesting to note the cabside number position differed from that applied when repainted for traffic in the black/tan colours.

As far as it's know, the three members of the G601 Class (601, 602, 603) skipped the black/tan livery and all three eventually ended their CIÉ careers in the plain black/white livery. The CIÉ green particularly suited the Deutz, such as on G603 in the early 1960s and it's common knowledge that the later batch (G611 Class) arrived in green but were quickly received the new black/tan colours prior to entering traffic, then some of them too later received the black/white colours and both liveries could be seen in tandem, such as on Loughrea branch operations. The IRRS Journal (No. 189) already quoted above explains and illustrates this information in far more greater detail. In the preservation era, I believe one of them carried the red Westrail livery, and as shown above, G611 was repainted into the CIÉ green colours, the nearest appearance to when they were delivered from Deutz in early 1962.

It's the LNWR station in North Wall, Dublin, looking from the train shed towards the road bridge at Sheriff Street and onward to Church Road. The shed became a goods depot after the station ceased operating in the 1920s, then demolished to make way for the re-developed docklands area in the 2000s. The main station building and adjoining LNWR hotel still survive. I believe the original photo now resides in the National Railway Museum archive in York.

If this is of any use, PRONI has amongst their collection from the erstwhile UTA, sets of drawings of GNR(I) wagons (reference code UTA/23/AB/1), including a detailed drawing of the GNR(I) weed spraying plant dated 1937. A small image of this drawing was publicised recently in Archives & Records Magazine and it shows the tank wagon with its 6-wheel companion.

I'm glad to read that there's a conscious recognition of respecting copyright re: IRRS Journal on this forum. Without this respect, it would only undermine the voluntary efforts and costs incurred that goes into producing the IRRS Journal and in particularly the pictures contained therein. If there is sufficient interest, the photo concerned can be made viewable via the IRRS's own Flickr photo-archive which is dedicated for such purposes for IRRS members. https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishrailwayarchive/

The footbridge at Moate station is a similar solid version to that at Ballinasloe, both are still in situ and in good condition. There's a bit of history behind Ballinasloe's/Ballyglunin's, as I believe it originally was first sited at Oughterard station on the Clifden line, so it has served three stations. PR Moate Station by rafferty930@btinternet.com4, on Flickr [/url] Ballinasloe Station: http://www.ribblevalleyrail.co.uk/Irish%20Railways%20Ballinasloe%20Station.htm

No worries Leslie, in fairness it's in small writing under the archives page so it's very easily missed.

The goods trains featured in the following IRRS archive films can also act as a useful guide if wanting to model particular routes. Mallow - Waterford recorded in the late 1960s; Limerick Junction, early 1970s shortly before block-freight workings became more prevalent; Tank wagons on traditional goods is an interesting topic. There were two routes in particular which tended to feature a higher quantity of tank wagons amongst a generic rake of traditional loose-coupled stock compared to your 'average' Irish goods train, these being oil traffic on the Foynes branch goods and the Dublin-Sligo goods, the tanks usually marshalled into the centre of the formation. The oil traffic on these routes later developed into their own dedicated block-trains in the late 60s and into the 70s, as traditional wagon stock became less common. The Sligo one was interesting, when new tank wagons came on stream they were still, for a time, marshalled with loose-couple stock.

The library is now also closed for the summer, last Tuesday was the last 'Library Night', they will resume as normal in September. The only exception to this during the summer will be the annual 'Open Day' held on 26 August as part of National Heritage Week.

That is an excellent picture, I note too the familiar signal cabin at the end of the platform had yet to make an appearance. These 8mm stills by the late Joe St Leger give a flavour of the 1970s period of excursion traffic, including a MkII AC set at the excursion platform. Thanks Eoin, to my regret I never took a decent side profile picture of the building. This semi-high res version of the other picture I hope shows the bricks in more detail.

The sole remaining excursion platform at the station was still in use in the mid-1970s for Summer excursion passenger traffic, but these workings ceased circa 1980, leaving the main station platform to handle the few remaining passenger specials such as GAA/Knock pilgrimage trains, with most likely the excursion platform no longer used.

As surmised, the C Class is most likely a failure (quite common with Crossleys then of course!) with the Sulzer locomotive rescuing the train. The GM 121 Class locomotives were more common on the North Wexford line, so the clip of loco B166 is an interesting recording. The North Wexford briefly re-opened after closure for a number of GAA specials in September 1963, hauled by 141 Classes such as B158, B147, B174, B177 plus as a double-header. I believe the re-opening necessitated the reinstatement of some signalling equipment. The 141s also worked the demolition trains during the lifting of the line. The tin luggage van that's tacked onto the rear of the Waterford-Mallow goods as you highlighted appears to have been a frequent occurrence and I too have wondered for what purpose. I have asked those familiar with the line but I haven't quite got any concrete answer yet.

Reminds me of the imitated black/grey liveried 'SNCF' train which ran on Navan branch with matching loco 048. http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20N/Navan/IrishRailwayStations.html#Navan_20110321_004_CC_JA.jpg

Loo Bridge, on the old Headford Junction to Kenmare branch. http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20L/Loo%20Bridge/IrishRailwayStations.html

There's another 22 videos from the IRRS archive on that youtube including a dedicated list featuring the vintage .

Glad it was of interest and use. No I'm not from the Kildare area, although my knowledge comes from having travelled around photographing and researching such railway locations, I must mention too, that I've learnt a great deal from more experienced enthusiasts, some who have sadly since passed on, along with their invaluable knowledge, but glad to have enjoyed their company and fascinating conversions about places like the Curragh racecourse etc..

I reckon they were probably stabled at Kildare and Portarlington, both these locations having reasonably long loops and formerly a lot of sidings in their yards. The use of a 'pilot' locomotive for Curragh operations may have diminished from 1975 onward in preparation for CTC, it been reported the new method for operating the racecourse branch was that trains on arrival from Dublin propel back into the branch at a max speed of 5mph, which no doubt required a longer time for the shunt. The train then proceeded empty to Kildare for the locomotive to run around and returned to the branch. For the return working, the train propelled backwards out of the branch and onward to Dublin. The Curragh cabin was dispensed with in December 1975, with access to the branch from then on controlled by ground-frame, released using an Annett's Key obtained from the Newbridge stationmaster. Interestingly the Railfans News indicate the branch did have a loop between racecourse platforms and the main line connection, but it was removed, along with a small signal cabin, as long ago as 1960. The Mk2 Supertrain set in 1973 mentioned in the IRRS Journal which ran onto the branch was reported as operating for visitors of the 'European Transport Officials Conference' group. A lot of the information above comes from endless reading of IRRS Journals and Railfans, so it's great enthusiasts recorded it, as the racecourse branch closed long before my time.

The connection to the racecourse 'branch' was removed in January 1978, so nothing is likely to have worked into the racecourse from then onward according to the IRRS Journal. One of the last normal race day workings was in May 1976, possibly the only occasion the racecourse branch was used under the then new CTC signalling system, but this was complicated and may have been one of the factors leading to the branch's closure announced in March 1977, the main line platforms having taken precedent. The branch was an interesting location to witness a form of 'top and tail' working not too common on Irish railways, when occasionally branch trains, complete with loco, were hauled out onto the main line usually by a 'pilot' locomotive (from Kildare) during shunting manoeuvres. In addition to a Mk2 AC set in September 1973 the branch was now and again visited by the weed sprayer. It was lifted 1988-89 along with other semi-derelict lines of the time, but the platform and trackbed was largely undisturbed until a road realignment a few years ago.

There are two extremely detailed articles written on the CIÉ A and C Class locomotives during their Crossley years which were published in the IRRS Journal in 1983 (issues Nos. 91+92), the information been largely compiled from first-hand accounts of the locomotives. Although the articles are scant in regards of quality illustrations, it more than makes up for this by way of unique and in-depth reading content, having said that however, many recent issues of the IRRS Journal have illustrated very well the A and C Class locos at work.

There's quite a bit of track still in situ including point-work, although I've not been there since the premises were converted from a local car garage. http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20D/Dalkey%20DUTC/IrishRailwayStations.html

If you register (free) a profile on the website, it enables you to zoom into the full image resolution, revealing lots more detail than what is initially shown.

A lovely station, it features prominently in this film recorded by the late Tony Price, it been one of his favourites.

There is quite a clear colour picture of the two Tramore camping coaches published in IRRS Journal 174, along with a brief description of the dates pertaining to them.

The wipers were originally fitted to both windows when new, but similarly with other technical features of these Crossley locomotives they were fragile and frequently prone to being unreliable. If the driver's side malfunctioned, the wiper off the fireman's window was fitted to it instead which is why in later years they only appear to feature one on the driver's side. As already presumed, the fireman's side wasn't too much of a priority. It's a bit similar to the way some window frames, cab doors and wipers etc.. were swapped around (there's grey 071 with an old orange wiper ).